Opinions solicited: frame on the wall

[cgolvin]

A friend gave me a copy of the current B magazine, devoted to Rapha, which I like. There's an article about four local London cycling-related shops, including a bar/cafe/pub called Vermuteria. One of the photos of the place highlights a Maglia Rosa themed Ciavete Peg frameset hanging on the wall, and in the article the owner says they have another Peg hung up as well. The one shown looks brand new.

I think this is a shame -- bikes are made to roll and, with some notable exceptions, they should continue to do that if they're able. OK, it's your bike, you can do whatever the hell you want with it, I'm just curious how others feel about this.

I recall from one of the Peg threads that someone has their 8:30 or Love #3 mounted on the wall because it cracked…that's a good reason to relegate it to display. And bikes with notable historical significance, for example a grand tour winner's, that's cool too (especially since those often bear some witness to their use).

What's your view? (I think we're safely removed from virus and political digressions here, but…Internet, who knows?)

[zzy]

Bikes are tools, but if you want them to be art that's okay too. I have a almost mint Saeco CAAD7 frame with the anodized candy apple finish on my living room wall. The non painted finish really lets you see the craftsmanship and looks great in direct light. Shame it has a tiny fold in the DT from a head on impact that snapped the fork.

[dbnm]

I bet this thread turns political and is locked by the end of the day

[Coffee Rider]

I have two frames that are wall art due to one having a potential crack and the other one needing more to get it rolling than makes sense and it's not worthwhile to anyone else.

Other than those, I have frames on the wall that will eventually get built, but I determined hanging on the wall would be the best way to maximize my enjoyment of them until I get around to the builds. I don't acquire frames just to own, but to ride. If I weren't into collecting bikes, I'm worried I could find a less healthy and more expensive hobby.

I can't imagine getting a nice frame with no intention of building and riding it.

[spank]

I'm 100% in agreement in the sentiment that bikes are tools. I held the same opinion when I was an active cyclist and racer. I never had nice, clean, blemish-free and latest state-of-the-art tools, but I did have tools that functioned well enough to perform the job I was asking them to do. I'm sort of the same way with cars. And it is the reason I had and still have never bought my wife an engagement ring, diamond or otherwise.

That said, I am at a phase where I'm certainly past my prime cycling age, with biomechanical issues having forced me to hang up my cleats at too-early of an age and right when I was able to purchase what was, for me, the tool I thought I'd always wanted: A Litespeed Titanium "Ultimate" with horizontal dropouts (it was NOS and actually a Linsky-built Lemond, but it fit the bill) and which I equipped with the pinnacle (of the time) Shimano Dura-Ace 7700 9spd. It then sat unable to be pedaled after probably less than 250 miles of initial use.

Now after more than 20 years of not putting on lycra, I'm finding myself able to do short 30-90minute rides. I've also posted elsewhere about my waxing nostalgia for an X3 Specialissima.

I have one now, an X3 Specialissima. Well, actually two, but neither one is the size I want/need. But I'm absolutely overjoyed to have one in pristine condition to hang on the wall as simply a piece of art, to enjoy for its beauty and for the memories that looking at it rekindles. And I'm thankful for the person who owned this wall-art before me and who obviously never rode it beyond a few short test jaunts and hung it up for himSELF to enjoy, so that now I can enjoy it.

This one will stay on my wall likely either until I die, until I'm broke enough to need to sell it to pay for a roof over my head or food on my table, or until I find one closer to my size in similar condition (Sorry son, but you'll need to come up with your own college tuition).

I'm not so sure there will be a generation AFTER me who will desire it or enjoy it as much as I or someone of my generation does. So like the pre-war era automobiles, the market for them will die out. But maybe at least a few of the best examples of each will live on as art / museum pieces for later generations to be able to admire and/or ridicule as time technology rolls onward.

So if someone wants to hang a tool on a wall, I say go right ahead. Enjoy the bike however you want to enjoy it. It's yours, after all. If you want to hang it on the wall and rattle your old bones telling tales it can't articulate for itself, while you gaze up at it from your Lay-Z-Boy, go right ahead. If you want to throw your leg over it, violate it by plopping your fat and soon-to-be sweaty arse right on top of it, and then hammer on it unceasingly so as to cultivate NEW tales to tell, go right ahead.

Just, please, remember to share those stories.

[slowpoke]

https://petrolicious.com/articles/in...e-garage-queen

For some, the allure of classic motoring is more about the sculpture and history of the vehicle than it is about the actual driving experience. You can’t very well fault a person for [their] interest in that.

More importantly, they also serve a very vital purpose, even to those who turn up their noses at the site of a pristine vehicle being gingerly unloaded from an enclosed trailer. Despite the snickering and muttered curses, garage queens never fail to attract a crowd at events. This is because they are essentially a museum piece that has come to you. These pampered cars and motorcycles preserve history while the rest of us mercilessly throw all kinds of new technology into our rides just to keep them on the road.

As a followup, what about folks who have more than 20 bikes in their stable? There's a good chance not all of them are being ridden on the regular. Is stable stockpiling and wall art collecting that different?

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

https://petrolicious.com/articles/in...e-garage-queen

As a followup, what about folks who have more than 20 bikes in their stable? There's a good chance not all of them are being ridden on the regular. Is stable stockpiling and wall art collecting that different?

I appreciate the thoughts. I don't think "bike is tool" and "bike is art" are mutually exclusive, both can be true.

To the question above, I think there's a difference in that the bike in the stable is still functional, even if it's not getting ridden regularly. I also draw the same distinction between the frame on the wall and the bike hanging from the rafters -- I'm not sure that anyone ever pulls down the lovely painted Moots hanging in our clubhouse for a spin, but at least the possibility exists without investing a lot of time mounting a groupset and tuning the bike.

[Coffee Rider]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

https://petrolicious.com/articles/in...e-garage-queen



As a followup, what about folks who have more than 20 bikes in their stable? There's a good chance not all of them are being ridden on the regular. Is stable stockpiling and wall art collecting that different?

I may get the that number one day (I count a "bike" as something built) and even with a far lesser number of bikes, everything that I count as a bike is ridable if I add pedals. The bikes that don't get ridden very much all have some sort of story connected to them and the unbuilt frames I have also have something interesting about them. My only "basic" (since it is a molded frame with a basic finish) will be serving the special purpose of getting me to do more dirt riding.

[bigbill]

I have a US Team True Temper GT I picked up here about 9 years ago. My intention is to find a Mavic group with a starfish and hang it on the wall. In the meantime, my son was home all summer from Annapolis and I built it up for him to ride just so he'd know what a handbuilt steel frame from a master like Nobilette was like.

[Dino Suegiù]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

A friend gave me a copy of the current B magazine, devoted to Rapha, which I like. There's an article about four local London cycling-related shops, including a bar/cafe/pub called Vermuteria. One of the photos of the place highlights a Maglia Rosa themed Ciavete Peg frameset hanging on the wall, and in the article the owner says they have another Peg hung up as well. The one shown looks brand new.

What's your view? (I think we're safely removed from virus and political digressions here, but…Internet, who knows?)

Historic collectible framesets are completely understandable, while a new modern frameset like a Ciavete might seem a bit sad, but...

...hanging a new frameset in a cycling-related shop doesn't feel that odd. I see it fairly often. Some are just waiting for all the absolute perfect components to be sourced; some are in transition; some are new framesets being sold for one reason or another; etc. I enjoy seeing them. Proud new framesets and iconic old ones are so beautiful.


(@dbnm: put some gumwall tires on one of those framesets and the thread might get locked by close of trading, not even end of day. )

[mktng]

My "modern' Master X Light is essentially wall art at the moment. Too nice to sell. Not enough riding days to justify using it, as most my kms are commutes these days. Odd ball after work and weekend rides are done on something else.

There's absolutely no problem with hanging a bike for display.

Some bikes are as much as a tool as it is art.

Just because it's hung up. Doesn't mean it can't be taken down and ridden.

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

https://petrolicious.com/articles/in...e-garage-queen



As a followup, what about folks who have more than 20 bikes in their stable? There's a good chance not all of them are being ridden on the regular. Is stable stockpiling and wall art collecting that different?

Heyyyyyyyyy, I'm that guy....






Although in all seriousness I can honestly say I ride everything and keep them all in top shape. Each year I evaluate and check my daily logs. If there's something I just keep passing over and not riding I move it on to someone that will use it.

As much as I love pretty much everything I have I don't know that I'd keep any as wallhangers if the frame broke or it get wrecked, etc. They'd have to be pretty special and unique for me to do that.

I truly appreciate the beauty of a good steel frame and try to keep them as mint as I can but I am going to ride them and do accept that something can go wrong.

Like granular white road striping painting getting all splattered over my freshly built Paletti. Sad day when that happened and I thought it was ruined. But I managed to clean it off good as new.

And as I'm rambling on. I do enjoy seeing bikes hanging on the wall, I can appreciate the beauty of them. But in the end they are still a tool to me and have to come down to see the road sometime.

i currently have 5 hanging in the bike cave. More as a storage solution than as art but I am particular about the ones that get hung.

My first Italian (white/pink Giordana) and my best riding Italian (another Giordana):



Eddy Martens built bike from the 80's because it's so cool looking:



The PDG Paramount get's the position of honor due to it's looks and how good it always treats me on the road. The Lemond was the latest built and I was out of room, so up on the wall it went.

[grateful]

If the bike on the wall brings the owner pleasure who am I to disagree. Seems to be a win for the material supplier, the builder and the owner.

Who earned/deserved more pleasure/ grief, Cameron Frye or his father?

Boy I sure remember the discomfort of them trying to roll the odometer back!

[Blue Jays]

Some of those bicycles are hanging off the wall as if by invisible magic!

[grateful]

That Ribble is awesome. Crazy how fast it looks with those hoops.

Originally Posted by jamesdak

Heyyyyyyyyy, I'm that guy....






Although in all seriousness I can honestly say I ride everything and keep them all in top shape. Each year I evaluate and check my daily logs. If there's something I just keep passing over and not riding I move it on to someone that will use it.

As much as I love pretty much everything I have I don't know that I'd keep any as wallhangers if the frame broke or it get wrecked, etc. They'd have to be pretty special and unique for me to do that.

I truly appreciate the beauty of a good steel frame and try to keep them as mint as I can but I am going to ride them and do accept that something can go wrong.

Like granular white road striping painting getting all splattered over my freshly built Paletti. Sad day when that happened and I thought it was ruined. But I managed to clean it off good as new.

And as I'm rambling on. I do enjoy seeing bikes hanging on the wall, I can appreciate the beauty of them. But in the end they are still a tool to me and have to come down to see the road sometime.

i currently have 5 hanging in the bike cave. More as a storage solution than as art but I am particular about the ones that get hung.

My first Italian (white/pink Giordana) and my best riding Italian (another Giordana):



Eddy Martens built bike from the 80's because it's so cool looking:



The PDG Paramount get's the position of honor due to it's looks and how good it always treats me on the road. The Lemond was the latest built and I was out of room, so up on the wall it went.